Tag Archives: rural Clare

November 17, 2016Comments Off on Rural Clare’s future jeopardised by ‘dire broadband’

HUGE tracts of Clare are on the wrong side of the so-called ‘digital divide’ according to local politicians and business people, with concerns this is hampering economic development and will continue to do so for years to come. Research published this week by switcher.ie shows that there is an average download speed in Clare of 17.4 Megabits per second (Mbps). This is the 12th quickest of the 26 counties and while this is dramatically quicker than last-placed Longford (just 7.25Mbps), it is also way behind first-placed Dublin (44.85Mbps) and also some distance behind Waterford (27.9Mbps) and Kildare (27.36Mbps). The research also shows that Shannon, home to companies such as IT giant Intel, has an average download speed of 51.64 Mbps, the eighth quickest city or town in Ireland. While the figure in Shannon is almost three times quicker than the average for the county, there is no doubt that many rural areas are experiencing much slower speeds. Fianna Fáil TD …

The Government has agreed to Fianna Fáil’s request for a full Dáil debate on the major broadband problem facing rural Ireland, an issue that is of serious concern in many areas of Clare. Fianna Fáil Spokesperson on Communications in the Seanad Senator Mark Daly has welcomed this but called on the Government to stop paying lip-service to the roll-out of rural broadband. “I welcome the fact that the Minister for Communications, Alex White, has agreed to Fianna Fáil’s request for a full Dáil and Seanad debate on the major problems with broadband in rural Ireland. “The Government has repeatedly committed to delivering a quality broadband service to all areas of the country. This was reaffirmed before May’s local elections where the Government promised to deliver high quality broadband to all areas. “The Government then cynically scrapped the National Broadband Scheme; which provided basic broadband services to rural users through a subsidy to providers; after the local elections. It will directly …